Biography #2 - What To Do About Alice?

Author: Barbara Kerley   Illustrator: Edwin Fotheringham

Credit: Barbara Kerley & Edwin Fotheringham

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Kerley, Barbara, and Ed Fotheringham. What To Do About Alice?: How Alice Roosevelt Broke the Rules, Charmed the World, and Drove Her Father Teddy Crazy! New York: Scholastic Press, 2008.

ISBN 978-0-439-922231-9

PLOT SUMMARY

* What To Do About Alice? is a charming informational storybook about Alice Roosevelt and her love of life! She was the daughter of our 26th president, who had many amazing adventures throughout her life. Her heart is as big as her spirit. 

CRITICAL ANALYSIS

* Barbara Kerley writes a fun and witty story about an amazing young lady in our history.  At the back of her picture book she shares additional information with her readers entitled "Author's Note", this helps with the accuracy of her information. Kerley's uses humor throughout her story, along with the text that jumps around the page that express Alice's feelings and strong emotions. For example, "he grumbled, Alice was UNRULY and INCONSIDERATE. She was turning into a TOMBOY"! Everyone all of all ages will fall in love with this adventurous story about Alice. 

The beautiful design of the book helps give credit to the illustrator, Edwin Fotheringham. The picture book has a very inviting cover of Alice riding a bike in front of the White House messing up the flowers like any typical kid. The illustrations are bright, vivid and authentic to what we are reading. The organization of the picture book is at times confusing due to to much being on a page. Sometimes the illustrations cane be overwhelming on a page, while the text is small.  

AWARDS AND REVIEWS

* Horn Book Honor Book
* Irma Black Award Honor Book
* Parents Choice Award
* Washington State Scandiuzzi Children’s Book Award
* A Publishers Weekly Best Book of the Year
* A School Library Journal Best Book of the Year
* A Kirkus Reviews Best Book of the Year
* An ALA Notable Book


*“Irrepressible Alice Roosevelt gets a treatment every bit as attractive and exuberant as she was….The large format gives Fotheringham, in his debut, plenty of room for spectacular art.” -Booklist 

* “Kerley’s text gallops along with a vitality to match her subject’s antics, as the girl greets White House visitors accompanied by her pet snake, refuses to let leg braces cramp her style, dives fully clothed into a ship’s swimming pool, and also earns her place in history as one of her father’s trusted advisers. Fotheringham’s digitally rendered, retro-style illustrations are a superb match for the text.” - School Library Journal

CONNECTIONS

Activities To Use With This Book:

* Research Roosevelt family tree, compare and contrast Theodore Roosevelt and his daughter Alice Roosevelt, use a Venn Diagram.

* Find key vocabulary words and use context clues to define words.

* Making Connections - Writing Activity - "If I was Alice?..." - Her love of life, etc. 

Book Connections:

* Those Rebels, John and Tom - ISBN 978-0545222686

* Blog created for the purpose of TWU, Children's Literature Course #5603, and for the love of reading!